Labour’s membership figures show John Mann is wrong to claim Jeremy Corbyn is ‘destroying’ the party: Yorkshire Post Letters
I AM not a member of Labour or any party but statistics don’t support Lord Mann’s argument (The Yorkshire Post, November 2) that Jeremy Corbyn is killing the Labour Party.
In December 2014 Labour had less than 200,000 members. Under Blair and then Brown membership declined and I thought it was heading for extinction as a mass party.
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Hide AdIt now has around 485,000 members though with a recent membership drop.
Compare that to the Conservatives, now around 180,000, and Liberal Democrats around 115,000.
On figures alone Labour is in better shape. It looks healthier than the Conservatives whose ageing membership has given party leaders concerns, though it has increased recently perhaps thanks to a “Boris Bounce”.
Of course figures alone do not tell us if party members will actually do anything for their party.
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Hide AdThat remains to be seen but Labour is in a potentially better position.
Whatever his faults, Jeremy Corbyn has seen membership increase under his leadership.
From: Jarvis Browning, Fadmoor, York.
What a pleasant change to hear John Mann’s honest view on politics and the House of Lords needing reform.
I personally think that the Lords should be run by the ones that are neutral in politics but have contributed a lot into society, i.e. the likes of Lord Dannett.